Welcome to our 2018 $500 Halloween Writing Prompt Contest. We decided to try something different this year. We are asking for writing prompts from YOU. In this case we are asking for writing prompts that will produce scary stories. You can see examples of these types of writing prompts over at our Top 10 Horrifying Horror Prompts. These prompts, the page was so popular, we wanted to write more than one, but we decided to get your help. We are going to use all or some of these for a new list of horrifying horror prompts.
The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners of this contest will the first 3 on our new list. We will give you credit for the prompt and a link to your page. The first place winner will walk away from this contest with $500. We want your horrifying halloween writing prompts!
Here are the rules of contest:
- You have to write a scary horror prompt (or it must inspire other writer to write a scary story)
- You have to write your prompt in the comments section
- You have to do this by October 28, 2018.
- Winner of the contest will be announced on Halloween Night
- Prompt must be original and not published anywhere else on the web
Write your scariest horror story prompt and put it in the comments below. Here is what you will win:
- Winner gets $500
- Winner and other best prompts will be published on our Terrifying writing prompts page
- You will get credit for your prompt on our site
- You will get a link to your site from our page
- You will get to inspire others to write terrifying stories
The prompts can be scary, we want them to make us feel fear, but in the end the prompt just has to make us and others produce something a horrifying story. So leave your Halloween Horror Prompts below!
MJ says
The eyes
I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t play hide and seek. I couldn’t pray. I couldn’t make a wish and blow out my candles. No one believed me. After all children make up stuff all the time. I couldn’t run. There was nowhere to run to. Because every time I closed my eyes I found it there, watching me.
Ethan Click says
You’re dead. Your body is placed in a boat and pushed out to sea with others. It’s a long journey to the otherside, and you aren’t actually dead.
Gwen Penn says
I am at peace, my dreams are usually always pleasant. I’m running through the woods, engaged in a game of tag with my faithful dog Cricket and then I hear it…. ring, ring, ring. What is that sound? I reluctantly open my eyes, it’s 8 am and I fumble for the phone. I pick it up… hello? And like a shotgun blast through my heart, I hear the screaming on the other end of the line … and my life changed forever.
Ilene Ramsey-Islam says
You are visiting your grandparents’ farm in a rural part of Iowa. Grandma asks you to go out to the barn to bring in a jug of milk she had left an hour ago. It is getting dark. When you get inside the barn it is dark and you have trouble finding the milk., You feel something wet dripping on your arm and think it is sweat. You walk towards a more well-lit spot and see spots of blood all over your arm…
Maddie mcdonald says
There’s an abandoned insane asylum dating back hundreds of years, when you walk past the building you can hear screams of terror and pleas for help yet to this day no one has been able to get inside. One evening you decide to give it a try for yourself and the door opens automatically. Curious, you walk in.
Maddie mcdonald says
You wake to the sound of a baby crying. You’re single, childless and living alone. Cautiously you walk to your bedroom door to get a better listen. You’re eyes fall on the floor to see a hand sliding into your bedroom from under your door.
Angela K. Rouse says
The children had begged you consistently over the course of a year for a puppy. You had a medley of reasons against it, but always their earnest pleas and promises had softened you, and now you find yourself driving along dusty, gravelly roads to Pawpaw Tree Farms with them. Mrs. Crenshaw had sounded just as an elderly country woman should–sweet, down-to-earth and practical–and her description of the “wriggling, lively” litter sounded perfect! When you arrive, Mrs. Crenshaw smiles broadly and ushers you, Megan and Jack into the whelping room, a sturdy shack some distance from the barn. She motions toward the farthest corner, and as the three of you walk toward the whelping box, you hear the sliding of a bolt and the turn of a lock. You find the door closed and the three of you are alone in the room. ‘Perhaps,’ you think to yourself, ‘she is worried that the puppies may escape.” However, your blood runs cold when you near the whelping box and realize what lies within are not puppies.
Mary Ann Slavcheff says
You wake up in a jail cell. Outside you see a gallows and a noose. Your life up to now has been a dream. The person they are about to hang is you. You are a convicted murderer. The only thing you remember is what was in the dream. And you know you are innocent.
Jack Aughtmon says
You and a strange man are on a life raft. You doze off. And what you wake up to terrifies you.
Trisha J. A. Barr says
Your family lives apart on an island and keeps strange secrets. Even you don’t know all the truth yet. The ancient manor in which you have always resided seems to thrill with a life of its own, as if a part of the family. You have grown up exploring its shadowy, maze-like interiors. It shifts and changes as much as a person does, so you never know for sure which room you will enter. When you hear its bones creaking, you know that it moves…
WordiGirl says
Can’t see my last comment?
WordiGirl says
I can’t seem to see my last comments?
Traci says
Halloween Night doesn’t have to end at midnight. You turn down the road towards your next party spot but stop suddenly. The streetlights blow out and a single pair of red eyes is all you can see..
Andrea Johnson says
You come home late one night from a party to find your apartment door wide open. The common space is in shambles, and your roommate lies unconscious—beaten and bloody—amidst the debris. You run to your friend to check for a pulse. Nothing. You rummage around for your cell to call the authorities, but before you can dial 911, you receive a text message. That text message is from your dearly departed roommate, and it reads: “Find the killer to bring me back.”
Andrea Johnson says
You are standing on the edge of a lake/pond/river enjoying the view. A glint just below the surface catches your eye. You think it is a piece of jewelry or a coin, so you wade into the water knee-level to retrieve your treasure. When you bend down to pick up the item, you catch a glimpse of your reflection and smile . . . until something beneath the surface grabs your wrist.
M.L.Feser says
“Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep”
Now we are without the gods. Now we are without the immortals. Now we are without the light. The light we used to slaughter, to burn, to destroy. With it, we became rulers of the world. Without it, we are at the mercy of our nightmares, of our darkest fears. The sun is setting. The night approaching. The dark is rising. Humanity’s torture begins. What is coming for you?
“If I die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take. “
M.L.Feser says
Down the shore we row, we row, down the river of blood. The river gives way to a pile of bones, the bones of all the dead throughout Time’s end. And you see your face among them.
M.L.Feser says
I walk with shadows, I hear their voices in my head, whispering secrets untold. You may see me standing there, in the darkness, at the edges of reality, away from society. But my dear, trust me, I am never truly alone. And you best fear me, child, for these depraved shadows are my home. And they have seen you. They have smelt you. They wish now to taste you.
Carole Ann Wright says
You come home from work one night to find everything just a little bit off. As you move through your house, following voices but seeing no one, you start to realize that everything has reversed. You pause at the large mirror in your living room to find your double staring back; your partner stands behind them with their back turned, but when you look around you’re still alone in the house. You feel your pulse quicken as your double raises a finger to their lips, a chef’s knife gripped behind their back and a wicked smile spreading across their face.
Arnas Vasiliauskas says
You wake up one morning finding yourself tied to the bed with your mouth sowed shut, and noises coming from the kitchen. Apart from the pain and the panic your only concern is to find a way to free yourself.
Lino Rodriguez says
A man awakens from his sleep from a knocking at 3:00am. He shoves it off thinking it is the wind. He hears it again only louder. It’s coming from his front door of the house. He looks through the peephole, but nothing. Opens the door to look around but no one is there. Annoyed thinking it’s some kids playing a prank he slams the door and locks it with the bolt and chain. As he gets ready to go to bed again, he hears the knock again. However, this time the knocking is coming from his bedroom door. The doorknob slowly turns and the door opens revealing nothing but darkness and the silhouette of a child with menacing intent.
(Stephanie) Nadine Kjaerbaek says
Blood decorated the tenderly ripped hem of her dress as she climbed into the backseat. The mirrors and lighting were set to hide her presence. She had checked them beforehand. A black blanket rested over the remaining newspapers from the day before. Bette had forgotten to remove the rejected extras from her paper route. She arrived out of the elevator, tired from a twelve-hour shift. The woman had scared her with yelling and persistent demands to see the boss. He had left earlier, around six in the evening. Now the clock crept slowly like a snake towards prey, past nine o’clock, and onward into the night. The blade rested up against the smooth, woven cloth behind the driver’s seat. The back seat looked lumpy, but lighting was terrible, and in the dim, damp atmosphere of the underground parkade, Bette couldn’t make out the human figure. The car doors clicked suddenly shut as she fastened her seat belt and started the key. She felt slightly eerie, as if she were not alone. The car motor started quickly and accelerated to 60 miles per hour in a matter of seconds. She removed a slight tear from her eye and pulled out of the parking lot. As she drove on, she noticed a figure in the back seat and slightly shook. The blade moved up the side of the seat slowly, inch by inch. Bette felt a strange pressure against her back as she turned right down a dark, abandoned highway exit. A police car passed by, unaware of the coming bloodbath.
Nate Rowe says
You move into a new house. It was built in 1868. After living there a few months, you are getting used to the strange things that happen every day. Books fly off the shelves, cabinets doors are always standing opening in the morning, and you have a rocking chair that rocks all by itself. You are used to these things, though they filled you with fear when they first started.
You decide to get with the 21st century and buy an Echo Dot for every room in the house. They voice helper is ideal since you are single. As you lay in bed, you can hear the electronic devices answering questions. You hear it say, “I would never hurt anyone….” You unplug the devices.
A few nights later, while standing in your kitchen, you plug in a Dot and say, “Simon says.” The command tells the device to repeat what is said next, and you know the next words that come out of it will be the voice the dead…. Write this prompt like it happened to you in the first person, and start with the first line of the dead person or person’s words coming through your Dot….
Kelsey Hontz says
It wasn’t a dark and stormy night– the opposite actually. The day was bright, cloudless, and warm, and yet you couldn’t shake the feeling that something was lurking beyond the happy sunshine… something that didn’t need the cover of shadows to hide…
Garron Staten says
You find yourself in pitch black darkness. You can move. Should you? You can scream. Who will hear? “Where am I?” you wonder. “How did I get here?” you ponder. What lies within the darkness might only be your imagination, but then again it could be real.
Chelsea George says
How does a moment last forever? That’s the question you ask yourself when you notice the day before Halloween repeating itself on campus. You’re not allowed to leave the campus and this is the third time you’ve lived through the day. Today, however, is different. There’s a girl staring at you, glaring at you. She slowly raises her arm and hand gestures you to her. Do you run or walk to her? What about away from her? Do you need her help to find the answers you want, or do you think you have what it takes to find out on your own? One thing’s for sure, Halloween might always be one day away…
SHARONDA J. BRIGGS says
I brought a pet kitten, mouse, and a bird.
I set them up at home. I put the kitten on a bed I made for him on the floor.
The mouse is in the cage with a wheel. And the bird is in his cage.
They all seem to get along. I left and went to work. When I returned, there was
a smell I couldn’t identify. It smelled like death warmed up! I looked around, I saw cat hair was on the bed I made on the floor, the wheel was sitting on top
of the mice cage, and a bird feather was hanging on the lock of the birdcage. I quickly called the police because I had to been robbed. As I walked
into my dining room area, someone had nicely made the table with a plate on the table that looked like Goulash and Smelled like Hell had come through my floor.
Someone had cooked my pets.
MD Walker says
Jeffrey wiped the sweat from his forehead and sat down on the dilapidated porch. He really hadn’t expected it to be this difficult. They always make it look so easy in the movies. He glanced over to the hole he had just dug and noticed something red poking out of the soil. Carefully, he stepped down the creaky steps, each board moaning and threatening to collapse under his weight. It was almost dark and the sounds of the swamp had him on edge. As he inched forward, every nerve in his body tingled with apprehension…
Bhasha says
A day in a haunted house except YOU are the one haunting it.
Patrick Cabello Hansel says
Why was my head talking? And what was it doing, nailed to the top of the church steeple?
Wayne L Adams says
Our neighborhood used to have a funny, informal contest every Halloween. Families would vie to see who could come up with the spookiest ways to greet the trick-or-treaters who came to their door. Our new neighbor seemed a little shocked by the idea at first. But that was the year our kids started disappearing.
Mallory Borcky says
The scariest part about this story, is that it’s true.
Whatever infested in my home, wanted me. It made that very clear.
I slept in the room where it dwelled; I was gravitated to it before I even knew it existed.
It visited me in my sleep, forcing my unconscious body to endure relentless nightmares that revolved around the same theme: The demon wanted me. And in my waking hours, that did not change.
Alexandria Babilon says
Long ago your son went missing. You were a grieving mother who had just lost her entire life. Friends and family were there for you in your time of need. You wouldn’t tell anyone what happened. You know why. Don’t you remember drowning him in the lake?
Steven "Sash" Scott says
The Jikan-Tsunawatari shattered when it hit the floor.
“You idiot!” Kitomi fumed at Matsura. “You damaged the amulet! It was the only way to get back to our proper timeline!”
The creature’s prehensile pedipalp snatched Kitomi from the glowing circle as she screamed in terror. A barbed tentacle wrapped around Matsura’s ankle.
The Jikan-Tsunawatari shattered when it hit the floor.
“You idiot!” Kitomi fumed at Matsura. “You damaged the amulet! It was the only way to get back to our proper timeline!”
The creature’s prehensile pedipalp snatched Kitomi from the glowing circle as she screamed in terror. A barbed tentacle wrapped around Matsura’s ankle.
The Jikan-Tsunawatari shattered when it hit the floor.
Jes says
The world didn’t go out with a bang, but rather one scream at a time.
Kayley says
Trapped in a mansion for a night. Parents gone. You alone. Or so you thought.
An under priced mansion has been bought by your parents. This town the mansion rests in is the home to a horrible memory you wish you could erase. Now, the home of that memory is the home you live in. The memory of a murder.
Soon the memory is being relived when you think you hear something, in the basement. The place where it all began.
Robert Kinard says
New Zombie
Waiting in the fog.
Grabbing victims,
as you step from the gloom.
Their brains are what you consume.
It’s a witch’s curse.
As a young punk, you snatched
the wrong ladies purse.
Opening her purse sealed your doom.
You’re the victim
stepping from the gloom.
A new Zombie.
Robert B. Robeson says
You’ve been kidnapped by a radical and sadistic terrorist group in a foreign country known for filming scenes of torture to be broadcast on media all over the world. You are threatened with every debasing human act imaginable if you don’t bow to their demands. You’re alone, without any chance of being rescued before they carry out their devious and ghastly plans, and your friends and family have no idea where you are or the demonic danger you’re in.
Robert B. Robeson says
After a long day of travel, you’re so tired you pull into a secluded wilderness area overlooking a deep valley hoping to sleep for a few hours. After darkness has fallen, you’re suddenly awakened by something shaking your car as if it’s a toy. A monstrous entity with blazing red eyes is glaring at you through the rear window as it grunts and begins shoving your car toward the nearby cliff. You start the engine but this creature has lifted the rear wheels off the ground and they can’t get any traction. You stomp on the brakes…to no avail. Terrorizing fear paralyzes your body as you realize you’re at the mercy of an unknown beast apparently intent on your destruction.
Robert B. Robeson says
You’ve been flying over Everglades National Park in Florida in your private plane when it develops engine trouble and loses all power. You don’t have enough altitude to glide to a safer area and are forced to make a water landing in the center of this massive swamp. There has been no time to put out a “Mayday” call on your radio to alert others about your emergency situation and you’re too low for radar to have picked you up. You survive the water splash down and are able to exit the aircraft as it floats for a period of time before you know it will eventually sink. As you sit wet and bewildered atop the cabin in filthy murky surroundings, crocodiles begin to converge in the area and a massive python thrusts its head out of the depths scant feet in front of you and slithers along quietly circling your position as if pondering its next move. With no way to defend yourself, terror and anguish combine to overwhelm your emotional state as you realize hope is all but gone.
Beth says
Drip! Drip! Drip! What am I? Water from the river or blood from my open wounds. Either/Or, I’m still your worst nightmare – come to scare. Look out your window tonight, if you dare!
Rachel Carrington says
You open your front door to a thick, dark fog. The neighborhood is quiet, unusual for a work day. You step out into the murkiness with your keys in one hand. You unlock your car doors remotely. The trio of beeps sounds eerie in the silence. Just as you’re about to reach for your car door, you see a bloody hand holding the handle. You can’t see a body. Then a voice whispers,, “Help me.”
Ilda Garcia says
Young children from a small town are waking up with shrieks of horror. The children have bloody marks across their cheeks. Most of the marks do not match or follow a pattern. Investigators photograph the children and take pictures of the bedrooms. Parents are interviewed about any recent changes, and the only links are related to pillowcases. A dark warehouse that has now closed down, had recently shipped cartoon and superhero figure pillowcases to a nearby department store. The children do not want to depart from their beloved new pillowcases, A parent sneaks the pillow away and takes it to the living room couch. The tired parent is dozing off when she feels the action figure sword slide across her face. The reality that the pillowcases are coming to life during the night hours has sunk in. A new cartoon which has action figures with fire has just arrived. Are the homes in the small town in danger of being engulfed in flames?
Sean Stockham says
Even under the morning sun, you taste the damp air. The constant, soft sigh of water over rock. You promised your mother you’d never go near it, not without her.
Until you saw the girl through the front window, the girl you knew.
Walking toward the river.
Jordan Paris says
You’ve been wearing a really neat costume for Halloween- it’s so neat that you can’t take it off. Ever.
Steven "Sash" Scott says
It was a haunting tune the woman hummed. I’d heard it from others in the village too. Men and women both when along this stretch of road, but mostly women. Eventually I learned the words. It’s called, “The Ballad of the Where-girl”.
“Where have you gone, my darling little one,
without your petticoat and shoes?
With wolves about in the forest and hills,
and the livestock the farmers lose…
I’m calling girl, come back to me!
Oh, where girl, where can you be?
Come out, my darling, the game is done
I must know that you’re just fine.
The sun creeps low, the air grows chill.
The searchers tire and still no sign.
I’ve called you girl. Come back to me.
Oh, where girl, where can you be?
The years gone by, this road still haunts
of your vanishing on that day.
Some distance there do my eyes accost
A naked girl and wolves at play?
I’m calling, girl. Come back to me!
Oh, where girl, where have you been?
Do eyes betray what this old heart wants?
Pale flesh at home among the fur?
Or tricks of tears for a child long lost
that caused my hope, again, to stir?
I’ve called you, girl. Come back to me.
Oh, where girl, where can you be?”
They say that the wolves in these parts abduct children. But in all the years, not one has been caught. And no child has ever been found.
Steven "Sash" Scott says
His back against the statue of Graye Marshal, he’d make humanity’s last stand… and lose.
Graye was trained. Like his brethren, he was the last of the heroes. A century ago, he slew the last horde of the Old Beasts and breathed his last on this very spot. They didn’t think they’d need to train any more Knytes. The Holy Dojos were closed and the Smithfires were dowsed. They celebrated their safely and, eventually, they forgot about the screams, the blood, and the re-animations. They forgot about The Damned, and the toothy Smilers. The winged Howlers, the brown Crawlers, and the dark things from the lower-ground otherwolds faded from their memory.
They didn’t think they needed heroes any more. Now the evil is back and the Knytes are gone.
Now the world is doomed.
Robert B. Robeson says
I’d always enjoyed Halloween and the variety of children dressed in so many different costumes “trick or treating.” When I answered the doorbell this year, seven small figures dressed as Snow White’s dwarfs greeted me.
“Trick or trick,” the one with “Grumpy” emblazoned on his costume said.
“Oh, you mean ‘trick or treat,'” I interjected, reaching for my bowl of candy to pass out.
“I know what I meant, lady,” he growled, as all seven shoved their way past the door and threw me to the floor. It was obvious these were not the kind, chivalrous and hard working dwarfs as portrayed by the Brothers Grimm. What was grim and deadly serious was that I was lying helpless beneath their mob of bodies as a gag, rope and a pair of handcuffs made their appearance from under their clothes. I suddenly realized what their intent was and became afraid for my life as they bound and gagged me. These adult midgets were using this children’s night for an evil purpose. They intended for me to be their victim.
“Now you’ll find out what the ‘trick’ part is going to be,” Grumpy threatened, producing a knife and a needle-tipped syringe filled with a colorless liquid.
Every Writer says
Find our the winners of our contest on Halloween night, October 31, 2018…9pm…..
https://www.everywritersresource.com/halloween-movie-night-2018/
Robert B. Robeson says
After being invited to a party by a neighbor who recently moved into your neighborhood, you’re served a drink that completely disorients and temporarily immobilizes you. The neighbor helps you to a couch in a side room to “sleep it off.” When you awake, everyone else is gone and you find yourself lying in a plywood box as your neighbor uses special tongs to place rattlesnakes in it with you.
“If you don’t move,” he says, “they won’t bother you.”
You want to scream and jump up to get away from these reptiles slithering over and around your body, but you know they will strike and you’ll die if you do.
Amy says
It’s been a long day to make matters worse it starts to rain. Your pull into your driveway and there on your front porch is a child with blood on their face. You get out of your vehicle with your phone in hand as you walk up to the child. As you get closer to the house you notice that the child is a girl and as soon as she hears you coming closer to the port she looks up. As she raises her head you notice that the blood is coming from where her eyes should be you call out that you’re not going to hurt her and ask her her name but she does not answer you she just looks in your direction with her sightless stare….
Caroline Schiller says
You are sitting on the wet and icy forest floor. Silently, you watch the rain as it accumulates to create puddles in the muddy holes beside your feet. Nature is beautiful, even when it cries, you think.
The falling raindrops mingle with the scarlet blood and create rivers of fire. You look at the body and try to decide what to do with it next.
Every Writer says
https://www.everywritersresource.com/halloween-movie-night-2018/ go to this link to find out the winner of our contest on Oct 31, 2018 at 9pm.
T. J. Low says
She fell asleep with all her friends around. It was now 2:45 in the morning. and they are all gone. The last thing she remembered was all of them looking up at the mirrored ceiling reciting “Bloody Mary”. It was a joke. Nothing happened. She looks around the house and there is no sign of anyone. When she hears a noise coming from upstairs. Thinking that her friends are playing a game she goes to investigate. What she finds will start a game no one will win.
Ashvina Paul Raj says
I was awake yet it felt as if I was in deep sleep having a nightmare….
The pitch black night seemed to acquire a sinister feel….was it the calm before the storm? “Happy Halloween”….a shadow whispered….I tried to turn to look but something held me back….
Chris Miles says
Trick or Treating on Antarctica was a crazy thing to do. We already looked like we were in costume given the layers of clothes we wore so we thought we would give it a try. Because everything was frozen, the people in the other huts had to give out something that would melt in the mouth, such as chocolate.
When we finished, which took all of about 15 minutes, they opened their sacks and found: chocolate. But one of the women had a candy with a note. This will not freeze–new invention from hut #5. Well, that is when it all began…
Kerri Davidson says
You park your rental car at the curb of your battered, vacant childhood home. The street is deserted, everyone already evacuated due to the impending storm, but you came home, after all this time, to process his loss. You run through the wind to the front door, the doormat beckons “come home”, the “wel” being wiped off long before. You see a flash of a shadow inside and notice the door is ajar. You hesitate, then push it open…
S. Newton says
You watched him die. Watched him fall. Felt his hands pulled from yours, as the fates yanked his soul into nothingness.
You couldn’t help. You were useless as he lay screaming and begging for mercy.
His last words haunt you, whispering tortures and taunts into your dreaming ear. Killing you each night with the insidious venom that comes with regret and pain; that comes with madness.
Waking from the endless nightmare, breathing in the sweet release of consciousness his voice lingers in the darkness. On queue, you feel a chill, and your body shivers as a cold and bloody hand caresses your arm…
…Almost familiar…almost him… you hear the words…”Honey I’m home…”
Steven "Sash" Scott says
“The initial attack was left to right in a downward motion, to generate more power in the pull. This was to knock the victim down as well- more manageable that way.”
“What do you think caused those parallel wounds? Some kind of martial arts weapon? A Kruger-glove? It’s that time of the year…” Her thumbs danced on the surface of her pad-phone as she took notes. She paused for the detective’s answer. He shook his head.
“Nothing like that, ma’am. Those aren’t slashes like from knives. Those are gouges.’
”Like from some hooks?” Her thumbs resumed their rapid pace. Again the detective shook his head.
“No. Those were made from claws- in a digging fashion.”
“How do you know that detective?” She glanced from her pad-phone to the bloody mess that used to be a human being. “I’ve seen my share of bodies, but this is some next level crap.”
“Because, that’s what I did.” The detective’s voice sounded more and more like he was speaking from a mouth with too many teeth. There was a sound like knuckles cracking and fabric stretching as he transformed. “Now, hold still and this will be over quickly.”
Pam LaFollette says
I laughed when the preacher told me he’d cast out a demon. I scoffed and walked away as he warned me the evil would return – with seven others more evil that itself. That night, I laid in bed as moonlight filtered in through the window. The shadow over my bed was darker than the rest of the room. It pressed against my chest. I couldn’t move my arms or legs. I caught a whiff of smoke as a shadow obscured the moon. A pair of eyes glistened in the darkness. Then another. And another. And another….
Tom Magee says
THE CURSED PARTY BUS
It was raining hard in Kansas City the day before Halloween. Bolts of thunder raced across the sky at regular intervals. The corner bar on the plaza was half empty. The back room of the bar was filled with an alumni group made up of ten people in their late 20s. They had been friends since youth. They all came from the upper crust in town. Everyone in the group held high paying jobs at the premier companies in town. This night like every Saturday before Halloween was a tradition for the group since elementary school.
This group had celebrated Halloween together since elementary school. Through the years the group had visited ever haunted house, pumpkin patch or corn maze in town. They had also visited all of the rumored haunted spots in town. The group spent hours discussing what to do this year. Out of a fear that these meetings might soon end they wanted something to top everything else. Somebody in the back yelled they should go out on Halloween and prowl the cemeteries just to see what they could find. Maybe they would bump into some devil worshipers? Another person expanded on that idea. Why don’t we make a mark the whole town will remember for years? Let’s go vandalize Tom Pendergast’s grave. Another said that would be an idea everyone would remember. Eight of ten agreed to this idea. Two did not understand why this was such a shocker. The other eight explained who Tom Pendergast was. He ran the town in the 30s and 40s. Tom also sponsored Harry Truman all throughout his career. Tom owned so much of the town Kansas City was called Tom’s town. We can’t have Halloween without alcohol. The leader said I’ll charter a party bus for this adventure.
Halloween came upon them quickly. The group leader arrived with the bus at the pickup point on the plaza. The leader John found out Tom was buried at Calvary Cemetery off of Troost and 67th St. By the time the bus reached the cemetery the group was feeling good and half way through their first keg. They stumble through the cemetery searching for Tom’s grave or any other oddity they could find. One woman sat down on this tall gravestone for a rest. As she sat down and broke a piece of Tom’s gravestone off. The noise of the incident and their constant laughter filled the cemetery. As the tombstone hit the ground a security guard rounded the corner and caught the group laughing and stumbling around. The guard yelled out, “Hay! What are you doing? Don’t you have any respect for Tom or the dead? You people should be careful. He who shows no respect for the past are doomed to stay dead in the present.” That chant scared the group away. They ran for the party bus as fast as they could.
As the group bordered the bus their laughter filled the air. As the group relieved the encounter while going down the interstate no one noticed the careening car coming at them from behind. As the car hit the bus everyone was stuck in shock. The bus driver didn’t realize what happened himself. The force of the impact from the wreck pushed the bus over the guard rail onto the highway down below. It was a 130 foot drop. Everyone in the bus was instantly killed. News of the accident filled the news on November 1. Few people saw the connection between the accident, Halloween, and the grave they desecrated.
However the story did not stop there. Periodically, especially on Halloween water cooler talk and social media conversations centered around this mysterious party bus seen on the highways around town. The bus description matched the bus which crashed last year. Various witness statements on twitter and such described the mystery bus like the one from that night. Loud laughter could be heard coming from the bus. People could see ten people having a party on this bus. Over time it became very apparent through these reports to the residents of Kansas City that just as in the 30s you don’t mess with Tom. If you don’t respect the past you might be doomed to stay in the present.
Hayden Edwards says
The hole isn’t deep enough for the body. The hole is also vertical, not horizontal. So his head is gonna be sticking out. Oh well, it’d be morning soon and I wanted to be gone by sunrise. I rolled him out of my truck and towards the hole. I twisted him and lifted him up by the armpits. I dropped him down feet first. His arms also stuck out, next to his head. I sighed and turned back to my truck. From the passenger’s seat, I grabbed my silver ax. I chopped off his arms, that got his attention and dropped them down the hole with him. His moans were muffled by the wet rag in his mouth. Now only his head stuck out. I grinned. This was the best part. I jogged excitedly to my truck and opened the back door. More frantic squeals of my other boys. I grabbed a pumpkin and slammed the door. I shoved it onto his head, stepped back and pulled out my phone. I got a few good pictures. I knelt down to the opening that was the jack-o-lantern’s mouth. I pulled out my lighter and brought it to the rag that muffled his cries. It lit, I jumped back.
By the time I was done, it was just 3 AM. 13 jack-o lanterns lined the field. Only six had been from my truck, the rest was some trick-or-treaters that had caught me. Or, had I caught them?
Mac Campbell says
Last night you had a horrible nightmare, one that was unlike any that you’ve had before. In the dream, everyone who you had ever encountered was found dead. Your partner. Your boss. Parents, siblings, the mailman, librarians, classmates, friends, enemies, teammates, your children, your grandparents, even the girl who bagged your groceries at the grocery store. But you woke up, so you think nothing of it. Right? So, you go downstairs to make coffee. You here the TV on, but think nothing of it. Your children have probably been watching for hours. But as you climb down the stairs, a horrible smell assaults your nostrils. The odour gets worse as you climb down the stairs. You cover your nose, and call out to your significant other. No answer. So, you go investigate. And what you find scars you for life. Your significant other is lying across the kitchen table, her throat slashed. You feel a sense of dread….your dream can’t be coming true. Can it? So you go into the living room. A sob escapes your throat as you see your three children laying their, dead. Everyone is dead. The dog, the goldfish, all of them have their throats slashed.
Here’s where you come in reader. What do you do next? Do you call the police and expect them to believe you are innocent? Do you bury their bodies and investigate? Do you leave their bodies and flee? What will you do? What can you do?
Emily Rose says
Stone cold eyes grip your gaze. Peering into your soul, the heartless eyes have no mercy. Death stares at you, through you, piercing your chest like an iron sword.
You thought you were dreaming
You figures you were hazed by pain medicine form your stage 3 lung cancer
He grabs your hands and begins to dance with you
Your waltz with death sends shivers down your spine, he dips you, you peer into his eyes
You’re in love with death, describe how you let your heart strings be pulled. Write what he’s like, tell what he can do for you. Treat me like your best friend and spill.
Steven "Sash" Scott says
“An AFFAIR?!” Mark Lynski snatched up the chair and slung it against the wall. “You’re lying, you little weasel! She would never do that to me!”
”I never said that, sir. I’m not implying that she…”
Lynski rounded the metal examining table, gathered the collar of Dr. M’Panto’s jacket and yanked him to his feet.
“YOU did this to her! Right here, in this place- I know you did!”
“Officer, please… Whatever was inside of your wife- whatever was controlling her- had nothing to do with us.”
Officer Lynski pulled his weapon and forcefully shoved the barrel against M’Panto’s head. The barrel was still warm from its earlier use. He could smell the trace of spent gunpowder. Lynski then grabbed the doctor’s throat with his free hand.
“SHE WOULD NEVER CHEAT ON ME! YOU LYING SACK OF-!”
Dr. M’Panto jabbed Lynski in the throat with his purlicue and immobilized the officers gun hand by controlling his wrist and shoving up. Lynski got off a shot that hit the security camera. M’Panto sharply pivoted with a high hip-throw and slammed Lynski’s back down hard on the edge of the metal table. He twisted the gun from Lynki’s hand and put it in the officer’s inverted mouth. Lynski froze, with his legs and lower back on the table, his arms spread wide and dangling, his eyes wide with shock. M’Panto spoke calmly.
“Your greatest nightmare has just come to life hasn’t it? I’m someone you can’t intimidate with your badge and gun. It’s no wonder your wife’s been sleeping around. We didn’t do anything to her but try and help her. That thing that came out of her killed good people in there. Whatever put it inside of her, is still out there and you’re a liability. It’s a shame the death of your wife caused you to have a mental breakdown, attack me, shoot out the camera, and then take your own life. Do you have anything to say before I splatter my pants and expensive shoes with your blood and bits of brain?”
Officer Lynski tried to gurgle something.
Dr. M’Panto pulled the trigger.
Steven "Sash" Scott says
“I thought you never missed?” Pete chided.
“ Ya know I don’t. I put every bullet I had straight into that thing.” Johnny deftly thumbed fresh bullets into his revolvers. Pete peeped out from behind the table they slid up to block the saloon’s swinging doors.
“Don’t look like it t’me,” Pete reported smoothly. “It’s still a’comin’. Good thing it’s a slow movin’– whatever it is.”
Johnny resisted an urge to punch his brother in the side of his head. Pete had no right to be so damned calm. This was all his horn-doggin’ fault. Now the whole town was in danger from those devil-monsters he said came out of the Dragoia Sisters’ fireplace..
“If ya hadn’ta been tryin’ to show off by readin’ aloud from that book a;theirs, Pete, this mess wouldn’t be happenin’. I done toldja t’leave them witchin’ girls alone. Stay away from’em I said. Stay out’a their stuff.”
Steven "Sash" Scott says
The portal opened and swallowed the ground beneath them.
There was no way he could pull my wife up to the ledge with one hand.
Either he let go of her and make it out alone, or he let go of the ledge and they both fall…
He let go.
Rekaya Gibson says
Your younger brother, Mark, is missing. You dress up as Kali—the Hindu goddess of death, time, and doomsday—and search Zombietown for his whereabouts. An ex-lover recognizes you and alerts the others to your faux godliness. In five seconds, a flesh-eating mob surrounds you.
Marie Cox says
Maddie awoke suddenly and sat up in bed. Something didn’t feel right. She glanced to her right and saw the clock read 1:22am. She slowly raised her arm to wipe sweat off her forehead.
Her arm felt sticky. Actually her forehead did too.
She reached up to turn on her lamp.
“Mother of God,” she whispered, her heart beat increasing rapidly.
Blood covered her hands and arms. Her night shirt smelled of copper and was saturated in blood. She reached up to her forehead and hair.
“Oh, Christ.”
“What the f-…”
Suddenly she felt she was not alone in the bed. Slowly, very slowly, she turned her head to the left.
There was a form under the bed covers. Not moving.
“Oh, Jesus, help me. Help me, please,” Maddie sobbed as she moved off the bed. Silently, she moved around to the other side of the bed. She could see nothing. With trepidation, she reached up to pull the covers down off the top of the figure.
The covers came down to reveal a blonde head, covered in blood clots and horrible slashes.
“No, no, no….,” Maddie screamed.
“Noooooooo.”
The covers came down to reveal the brutalized face. It was still recognizable.
“My God! No. Please, no. Oh, Christ, no.”
“Cally! Cally, wake up. Please wake up,” Maddie screamed as she shook her best friend’s limp body.
“Help! Someone, help me, please!” The room echoed with her screams. Silence. Dark, cold silence.
Nicole Velazquez says
All you see are the limp bodies of your sister and mother on the kitchen tiles as you walk in. The strong smell of iron in blood fills the air, along with the sounds of the flickering lights. That’s when you hear it. A bang, a moan and a momentary struggle. “Run!” your brother screams as he gets dragged down the steep basement stairs. You run out the back door like all hell breaks loose, not having a single moment to wonder what is even going on. The freezing rain blinds you while you run across the darkened path behind your house. The naked, hollow trees look as ominous as ever underneath the cloudy night sky. All you hear is the wind howling along with the crunch of the shriveled leaves on the ground as you run. Your legs want to give out but if you do, you know that the worse is going to come. Your brother, your sister and your mom already dealt with it face to face. Now it’s coming for you. You don’t even know what it is or how it looks like. To avoid it, you just have to out run it.
You tumble down backwards, and your head hits the freezing, damp ground. Everything spins around you and your vision turns blurry. You try to get up, but your body is giving out from exhaustion. “I wish I ran the mile in gym,” you think as you take deep, rapid breaths to normalize your heart rate. Suddenly, a nearby snarl stops you in place. You stop breathing altogether and slowly get up. “Get up. Get up and run,” you think as you slowly rise from the ground. When you are finally standing, a strong wind blows from the left and you turn towards it, as if on cue. There you see the biggest pairs of fluorescent lime green eyes, six to be exact, staring back right at you as the biggest chills run throughout your entire body…
Shelly says
He wasn’t real. He was just a silly monster I made up as a kid to keep me company. You know, an imaginary friend. So why was he playing checkers with my daughter?
Allie Jackson says
You figured it would stop by now but it doesn’t cease one bit. It inevitably continues.. No matter how far you feel like you’ve gotten or how much you feel like you’ve achieved, you’ve only been drawn in closer. It’s no longer the unknown that horrifies you but the assurance that you know EXACTLY where your headed and unfortunately there’s no escape route, not this time. The pain is insurmountable; There’s NO turning back, not now, or ever for that matter..
Laura Thompson says
I couldn’t bear the site any longer, yet I couldn’t turn away from the figure standing in front of me. Its last victim laid on the floor seizing and twitching as the nerves continued to run inside their body. A faint whimper escaped my lungs uncontrollably, suddenly causing the head on its shoulder to snap back and glare into me. Its body faced away from me, head turned 180 degrees, as its icy cold neck began leaning to the right, smiling at me side on. I stood frozen, tears beginning to well in the bottom of my waterline as the realisation hit … I wasnt going to walk out of this factory.
Every Writer says
I want to say I’m sorry to all of you that there have been some …..let’s say unfriendly posters in a couple of our threads….we get 100s of comments per day, and It’s hard to go through all of them. I AM reading all of the contests entries, but I am behind. I’m sorry these unfriendly posters weren’t ban sooner. As of now they have been blocked. Commenting on an entry is fine, if it’s positive, if you get someone heckling you, please email me at eds@everywritersresource.com, and I will remove them from the site. For now I’m reading reading reading….I love Halloween.
Michelle R. says
The tarot card reader turns from your friend to you. As instructed, you pick five cards and flip them over. In the dying candle light, you see the look on the tarot card readers face contort from bored to horror, bottom lip wavering with fear.
Every Writer says
Also, it helps us a great deal if you sign up for our newsletter. We generally send less than 1 email per month, but every so often more. It’s not often though. Please join if you want to know about our upcoming contests, about winners of the contest, and other happenings on our site. https://www.everywritersresource.com/newsletter/
Robert B. Robeson says
A serial murderer has escaped from prison and has been loose for more than a week in your community. The police can’t figure out how he’s surviving and able to hide from their dragnet. As a board member of a small church on the outskirts of town, your wife has mentioned that food being stored for church socials in a refrigerator in the basement has been disappearing, After a Sunday evening service, you decide to arm yourself with a baseball bat and hide in the kitchen to see if you can catch the thief. Late that night, you hear footsteps approaching the kitchen and see the glow from an approaching flashlight under the door. You think someone might have been hiding in the church attic and coming down each night to help themselves to food. You grip your bat firmly as the door slowly opens and you recognize the murderer’s face, in the flashlight’s beam, from recent newspaper articles. When you shout “don’t move,” he quickly turns off the flashlight and the kitchen is immediately plunged into pitch blackness again.
Robert B. Robeson says
You’re a commercial helicopter pilot who flies tourists on 30-minute flights around your city and state capitol. A well-dressed man purchases a ticket and asks to be flown over the governor’s mansion. On the way, he admits that he was recently fired as a member of the governor’s administrative staff, pulls out a pistol and demands that you either fly the aircraft into the mansion or he will simply shoot you because he’s decided to commit suicide and provide negative publicity for the governor’s decision to end his long public service career.
Leah Jordan says
They say seeing a unicorn is good luck and that you’re pure of heart. The catch is that they didn’t specify the color of the unicorn. A blue unicorn is a sign that you’ll find water nearby. A pink unicorn means you’ll fall in love. A black unicorn brings bad luck and terrible misfortunes. One day on a hike in the woods, you see the black unicorn . . .
Ellanore Moore says
Ernest’s Heart raced. Arthur was coming for him, he could hear the footsteps getting closer to his hiding place (a thick tree at the edge of Aurther’s property). “Ernest,” Aurther yelled across the field, “I know you saw! I know you saw me doing what I done now get out here. no ones gon’ know about this!” Ernest swallowed hard. He’d seen what Aurther was doing almost vomited thinking about it. “Get here now!” Aurther’s footsteps crunched across the snow. Ernest took a deep breath and peered around the tree. He couldn’t see Arthur but could sense his presence. He leaned against the tree and slowly slid down to sit in the snow. He was surely going to be killed. Ernest took off his hat and looked into the sky wondering why God would punish him like this. He had always been a noble man and always did the right thing and being gone down by some psycho path wasn’t the way he thought he would go. Ernest knew he had to fight back, but had lost his gun in a tangle with Arthur just moments before. He had no weapons, no advantages, no hope. Ernest had been to lost in thought to hear Arthur come behind the tree and put the barrel of his gun to earn his throat. Caught off guard, Ernest…………
Sergios P. says
You get up during the night to go to the kitchen and drink some water and as you turn off the tap you hear a terrified woman’s voice saying – “Did you all see that?”. You turn around and there is no one there. As you begin to walk back to your bedroom you notice that your furniture and house look different.
Amelia Hooke says
You’re on summer vacation, visiting a famous cemetery of enormous size in the early, isolated morning. When you return to the rental car to put more mosquito repellent on, you lock your keys in the trunk. Luckily, you have your phone to call for help.
But the car locksmith doesn’t arrive for an hour. It’s getting hotter and more humid by the minute. Finally, he calls to say that he can’t find the exact headstones where you are, so you offer to meet him at the front gate, even though it’s a long, sweaty walk. Instead of a tow truck with a company logo, you find a black van. The driver’s window rolls down. A fat-headed man leans out to say, “I’ll drive you back to your car.” It’s hot enough you don’t think twice about it. He has you squish into the back, where there are no seats but piles of neatly organized tools. As he puts his foot to the gas pedal, he asks, “Can you guess what those are for?”
Wendy Montoya says
Get up and go, you can’t sit here!! you scream at yourself; but can’t move.
your still in shock from the breaking news. Your being ordered to stay in your homes because the break out has claimed hundreds of lives, it’s only 9:30 am.
Your heart races as you sit up remembering you need water and can goods. You rush through your house trying to find your car keys, when you here the front door open.
“hello” you call out. No answer,
You creep to the hall and realize; it didn’t matter what the news stated about staying in your home your being swarmed by the growls coming from the familiar faces. Your husband bites down on your jaw and your children rip open your belly with their tiny hands, You were never safe, not even in your own home.
Michelle says
The giggles of your children echo through the halls as they run out of the house, clutching their make-shift time capsule. “Dig, dig, dig.” They chant as you follow after them with a shovel. As you break ground, you discover something that was meant to stay buried.
Siouxsun Lakeland says
Your sleep becomes restless with the oddly familiar oder permeating the air. You can feel it’s repugnant aroma tugging you towards consciencousness. Your eyes spring open to the sound of your heart pounding in your chest. Wide open straining to adjust,still,cold darkness crushing in on you from all directions. Your blood begins racing through your veins with the sound of the floor creaking in the distance. Paralyzed with fear you want to run but you can’t move. This can’t be happening again. Not again!
Robert B. Robeson says
You’re driving alone in a mountainous area at night in a snowstorm when a massive human-looking creature, covered in dark hair, suddenly appears in your headlights. You hit the brakes but this only results in your car skidding sideways into this being and causing your engine to quit. As you begin to recover from the impact and shock you realize that this disturbing presence, although obviously injured, is still alive and is working its way out from under the car while making strange noises in its throat intent on warning you that it’s unhappy about what just occurred. Only two choices seem realistic in your muddled mind: jump out of the car in a hurry and attempt to flee down the road, hoping whatever it is won’t be able to follow you, or lock the doors and pray you can get the engine restarted.
Robert B. Robeson says
You’re swimming in a lake far from shore deep in the mountains. Your friends are still on the beach ready to join you when something grabs one of your ankles with what feels like a human hand and long slimy fingers. It pulls you under. You fight to return to the surface where you gasp for air. Whatever has taken hold of you continues to grasp your ankle in an iron grip, seemingly intent on dragging you under again. Struggling to keep your head above water, you attempt to scream for help, but your mouth is full of water and you’re too far out for anyone to hear you.
Deandra Carrasco says
I heard once that our minds can’t imagine new faces, so every dream that we have, every nightmare that taunts us, every creature that lurks in the darkest corner of our minds has a face that we’ve seen somewhere before. Makes you wonder doesn’t it; where you met your monsters?
Patricia Bowen says
You sit facing the door and every time it opens your heart thumps a little harder. You’ve never tried acting before but here you are, playing a role in a life or death reality gig. And here she comes, late for the last date of her short life. It’s Showtime.
She strides over to you, smiling, and slides into the other side of the booth. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” she says.
“That’s okay,” you say. “Some things are worth waiting for.”
Sidney Kidd says
Mama told me not to come. She always knew what was best for me…
Maria D.S. says
I can’t tell what it is – a person? An animal? – or even if it has a shape. There is an energy – is it a heartbeat? Inconsistent breathing? Whatever it is, it’s here, its presence looming over me like eyes that see all. It’s ironic, isn’t it, that the weight of that presence renders me immobile – my feet, stuck in the quicksand of fear – in a familiar place that invites mobility: my own walk-in pantry. The expression ‘comfort food’ comes to mind: it’s such a lie. Never have I felt more danger than I do now, drowning in the false promise that bags of chips will comfort me – but I do feel like something will COME FOR me. I can’t even remember what the hell I came in for, myself…
Nicoli Carr says
The Pumpkin
Your protagonist is a middle aged woman in a rural town. She prides herself on winning the annual Halloween pumpkin pie competition, but last year, for the first time in five years, she did not win first place. She wants desperately to redeem herself this year.
Every morning she takes an early morning walk, retracing the same route each day. She notices a cottage has what must be the most vibrantly green, healthy looking pumpkin plant growing in the side garden. She continues to take her morning walks and watches a single brilliant yellow flower bloom and drop away to reveal the small fruit underneath. The fruit grows quickly, taking on an orange color so bright and vibrant it looks like the pumpkin is glowing. One day, stopping in her usual spot to admire the pumpkin, the idea is there. This is the pumpkin that will redeem her, make her the talk of the town again. She decides there’s no two ways about it: she must have the pumpkin and makes her mind up to steal it…
Eric Rigby says
You flip through your phone on the train, trying to find something to keep your mind off the looming work day. Your eyes settle on a strange, nameless app you haven’t noticed before: the icon is a skull with black liquid pooling from its mouth and eyes. You don’t remember downloading it; it was probably your teenage nephews who were up most of the night at your apartment. You hold it down and try to uninstall it, but that option never comes up. Instead, when your thumb lifts away from the app, the train lurches to a violent stop and throws passengers to the ground. Everything plunges into darkness. Your phone skids under the seat. You wince in pain and reach for the phone. The only light in the entire train car emanates from your phone screen: an uncomfortable, deep red accompanied by a low moaning that gradually fills the car.
Gaie Sebold says
Clowns are the larval form of the clown car. Discuss.
Gaie Sebold says
You’re out for the usual evening with your mates at your favourite pub. You go to the loo. When you come back, things are slightly off. Slightly skewed. And no one else seems to have noticed…
Gaie Sebold says
You settle down to stream your favourite show. But this episode seems to be playing out that incident you’ve successfully hidden from everyone. Right down to the dialogue. And even the clothes the actors are wearing…
Rose says
He follows you everywhere. You can’t go anywhere anymore. You are at school and you see him staring outside the the fence at you, you are at lunch with your mom and he is at the booth behind you. He doesn’t hide himself, he leaves himself in the open and trys to tell me things, he is always mouthing something. When I tell my friends they don’t beleive you anymore and you feel like you are going crazy. You can’t even go to the bathroom and be alone. You go to the cops, they can’t do anything for you. You decided that there is only one more thing that you can do. You decide to go up to him. At recess you went up to him and asked him what you wanted. He said something, it was very sparse you could hear pieces of what he was saying. The words you heard were, ” Get him out of me, I need……….”
Rachel Caldecott says
They say Hell is tailor-made, and I know it to be true. My private demons had been watching me for years, taking notes, plotting, devising and stitching my own personal hell; Measured to perfection with no room for redemption. Let me tell you about it…
Dennis Mombauer says
He splashed through the surface, and murky tropical twilight closed around him.
Palri clenched the air hose between his teeth as he sunk down into five, ten, fifteen meters of darkness. He said a prayer to the Lord Buddha and hoped the rope wouldn’t get tangled or cut.
His feet touched the riverbed and stirred up a cloud of silt. He felt around with his bare hands, scratched over rocks and slimy algae.
He hoped that the rope would be fine, and that there was nothing waiting for him below. That the water didn’t have teeth.
Emily Edmisten says
You had a long day at work. When you get home, you’re more than ready to go to bed. You enter your room, and, without even turning on the lights, change into your pajamas and drop into bed. Just as you close your eyes, you hear it: a raspy breathing in the corner. You sit up, and you can barely make out a dark shape hunkered in the corner. But your cat is in the bed with you, and you live alone.